Doomheads

Best of 2015

Welcome to the first annual “Best of the year” Doom Chart! (we’ve been here before, but not on doomcharts.com)

I had a blast putting this thing together: things seemingly running backwards at the deadline, bitching about albums coming out too late, remembering lost albums from bleary eyed January (who can remember that far back?). All of which has led to a few unusual features.

You’ll notice a few more places than usual (26-50), mostly written out in list form. Technically, we could do this every month (we average about 250 unique album submissions per month between us), but we like to keep things to a concise 25. And summarizing one of the best years for stoner / doom in recent memory is impossible to do in 25 steps.

The strangest thing of all is that four different albums make their doom charts debut here. There’s no doubt that Egypt’s and Moon Curse’s brand new albums would have placed higher if they had come out earlier in the … well, let’s not spoil too many surprises.

So read on, what we have here represents the collective musical libido for the past year of this strange hive mind we call the Doom Charts!

Just a year after their debut Leave The Light, Demon Eye are back. Moonlighting children’s entertainer, librarian and soul DJ Erik Sugg is a student of the riff, on the verge of becoming the master. Their early doom, proto-metal shows a subtle evolution from the last one, including touches of prog. “I’ll Be Creeping” (no it’s not a cover of the classic Free song) “End of Days,” “In The World, Not Of It” and “Black Winds” feature some memorable vocal melodies, a pretty rare feature in this genre. “Poison Garden” gives a nod to Uncle Acid, one of their few contemporaries who do this as well. There’s a colorful, monstrous menagerie lurking beneath the surface as the songs spin some engaging, sinister tales, ideal for listening with the lights out. Just be sure to keep the door to the basement locked. ~ A.S. Van Dorston (Fast n’ Bulbous)

Weedpecker, the 4-piece from Poland came back in 2015 with this marvellous Stoner-Doom album, following-up their already well-acclaimed self-titled debut. With « II », these « mary jane » lovers crafted what I called in my Top Albums of 2015 : « The Ultimate Chill-To Album for Heavyheads ».

Indeed, Weedpecker went even further into the sound they crafted with their first album: a massively heavy tone, fuzzed-out to the maximum, incorporating a weed-induced psychedelic vibe! They really pushed it to another level, another level of epic heaviness has been crossed, blending perfectly clean guitars melodies with a lot of delay, and those slow chords progressions filled with so much fuzz… The airy vocals also fits perfectly with the overall sound, inviting you to have a big chill session on your couch smoking the finest weed you can find.

All Heavyheads should listen to this album in its entirety, it really has all the elements for us to enjoy a pure moment of evasion. Let the sound penetrate your brain, and you will certainly be able to imagine yourself flowing above a river bordered by gigantic mountains with a gloomy woodpecker head at its top… Oh but wait ! I think I already saw this scene somewhere… Nevermind, let’s sink in again this fantastic Heavy-Psych trip ! ~ Tanguy Dupré – “Mr Fuzz” (More Fuzz)

Nostalgia flows through me the way oil circulates through my car—it’s not fueling the machine, but it’s critical for things to operate, and my mental processes grind to immobility pretty quickly without it.

My nostalgia often runs to eras that I wasn’t even part of. To wit, I think a lot about modern heavy rock’s classic heyday. Between you and me, I don’t listen to much Neil Young, Skynyrd, Jefferson Airplane or even Hendrix, but I do wish I’d been around to see and hear them at their height. Something about the psychedelic-tinged, folk-twangy rock of late ‘60s and ‘70s rock bands just feels so honest and primal that it bums me out to have missed it. Fortunately, that’s the exact vibe that Golden Void is channeling.

To be clear: this band is unequivocally not appropriating a retro sound. They’re simply following the melodies and riffs in their souls. As it happens, though, what’s in their souls is the pure, authentic essence of the golden age of jammy, folksy, spacey, southern rock, decades before anyone would think to hang such a homogenized albatross of a name as classic rock on it.

Golden Void are genuine and original, writing psychedelic-rock anthems that feel like they’ve been lovingly maturing in an old guitar case for decades. They do love to jam, but the jams are thoughtful, intelligently-explored, and you never get impatient wondering where they’re headed, because every note is taking them toward a very intentional destination.

Nightslug are one of the harshest bands from Germany. Nihilism, hate, punk: J. Slug, P. Slug and F. Slug don’t even know what feelgood music is and torture their listeners with feedback, distorted basses and a voice that sounds like it soared from hell 2000 years ago. Loathe is nothing but the logical consequence of the bands’ horrifying debut Dismal Fucker. Loathe is brutal, ugly and disturbing as fuck and after listening to it you’ll wish that you never did. ~ Timon Menge (Sludge Worm Magazine)

Valley of the Snake cements Ruby the Hatchet as one of the years most provocative hard rock albums of the year. Combining the catchy groove of top tier stoner rock with an exuberantly tie-dyed arena doom, the overall impression carves a valley of medieval wonder. Opener “Heavy Blanket” wraps the listener with warm, yet pummeling groove carried by angelic vocals moaning with a serpentine echo. Jillian Taylor not only shines like a diamond physically, but her commanding vocal charms the nerves and awakens the aural senses with arousing effect. Valley of the Snake strikes the doom charts with venom force at #25 slithering the kingdom of riffs with a seductive presence. ~ Bucky Brown (The Ripple Effect)

Cult of Occult’s hole-istic blackened doom sludge spiraled to new depths on their third full-length album ‘Five Degrees of Insanity’. The concept is fairly straight-forward: each of the five 10-minute plus tracks explores a different kind of insanity. The very fact of the album’s length (~71 minutes) compared to the number of songs (five) in and of itself implies a sort of mania. This isn’t an album for “heat seekers” looking for that hot single, on this album the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. By the end of the journey, you’re convinced that the band has thoroughly explored the overall theme without getting too bogged down by each particular part.

Cult of Occult is one of the most atmospheric bands on the planet. Their last album (‘Hic Est Domus Diaboli’) made me think of dust dancing resonantly to life atop a sarcophagus, here they will show you the catacomb entrance to get to that place and in most ways the journey is darker and more foreboding than the destination. Some stories will have you reaching for the tissues, this one will have you reaching for the bugs crawling beneath your skin. ~ Lucas Klaukien (You May Be Dead & Dreaming)

Ride the wilderness is a flashback to around 1971 . Protometal/proto doom in the vein of early Pentagram. It really doesn’t get better than this for seventies doom aficianados. A true classic! ~ Paul Rote (Doomed & Stoned)

Never did I expect this album to impress me like it did, but I’ll be damned if ‘Beyond The Wall of Time’ doesn’t wow me time and again. Glowsun’s third studio album is clearly the French instrumental trio’s strongest record to date. What’s more, it stands up well compared to just about any other record on the Doom Chart, thanks to stellar musicianship, complex textures, and a wicked rhythm section that just will not be stopped! From the first track on, the listener is swept away in a fascinating world of spherical sound, played out by enormous atmospheric compositions with intense rock riffs and dreamy psychedelic melodies, that come together with the perfection of a great symphony. ~ Billy Goate (editor-in-chief at Doomed & Stoned)

Named after Hecate, the Greek star goddess of light, the moon, magic, ghosts and necromancy, Ufomammut’s latest album is a perfect encapsulation of what makes their cosmic doom sludge psych so special. While labelmates Neurosis and YOB deserve much respect, these intergalactic space lord bosses inspire fanatical worship among those who immerse themselves in their bonkers universe. Because they’re absolute nutters who are fully committed to their vision. While Ecate is not as ambitious as the expansive double Oro, it’s heavier. At this point in their career, they’re masters of their craft, and it’s futile to attempt to weigh and judge this piece of massive music. Better just to respect its power, lay prone and hope it doesn’t eat you alive. ~ A.S. Van Dorston (Fast n’ Bulbous)

Not only is The Atomic Bitchwax the coolest band name in the hard rock arena, but they’ve proven themselves worthy of icon status in the world of heavy progressive stoner rock for roughly 20 years running. Graviton successfully combines equal parts QOTSA to Foo Fighters with the balls of Fu Manchu and brains of Monster Magnet. This buzz creates a formula of massively addictive hooks holding true to their signature brand of speedy stoned out groove. Scorching desert metal riffs scar the amplifiers as the melodic fuzz noodles along to a tranquil fervor. Virtually every song on Gravitron is brimming with atomic groove and glazed with bluesy grungedelic luster pulling its weight amongst the rising field of doom, psych and stoner Titans of 2015. ~ Bucky Brown (The Ripple Effect)

Halcyon memories of secret passions and overwhelming emotions are attesting the untold sentiments and rusted longings never fulfilled becoming thus the epitome of brutal harmony and lyrical wrath of humanity. So when humans fail once more to establish dominion over their inner damages Unanswered Hymns by Church comes full with sonic tidal waves of monstrous beauty and crumbles their extremely fragile virtues. Astonishing. ~ Lyk (Phantasmagoria)

I count 2015 as an excellent year for stoner / doom and Freedom Hawk was a big part of that. It’s become a staple in the car. It’s the kind of record I subtly throw on for company which inevitably leads to a sudden break in the conversation and the question, “what are we listening to?” and my answer, “this — is fucking Freedom Hawk!” ‘Into Your Mind’ is the band’s fourth album and first in four years. It shows what a band is capable of with time and experience.

It’s one of those rare records like The Beatles’ ‘Revolver’. How? Well not only is every song excellent, but no two are alike and that’s just about the best thing that can be said about an album. So hats off to this Southern band! We music freaks tend to be greedy with our bands, always wanting more but if Freedom Hawk decides to take another four years to release their next record, the wait will be worth it … and it’s not like ‘Into Your Mind’ will be forgotten by then. It’ll still get regular spins in the car and for company at which point the inevitable question will be asked, “what are we listening to?” and I’ll answer, “it’s fucking Freedom Hawk!” ~ Lucas Klaukien (You May Be Dead & Dreaming)

The Heavy Eyes is a massive Memphis power-trio who blast out gargantuan, midsummer-perfect skate-rock. On their latest release, He Dreams of Lions, the sound is as syrupy as Vermont maple, and as thick as the grooves on your new translucent 180-gram slab.

Tom-heavy beats lope along with no urgency to reach the end of the road, as this boogie van coasts beachbound over miles of the most voluptuous riffs this side of Saturn III. Let me double-check that they’re from Tennessee and there’s no Memphis, California, because the SoCal chant is in full effect here—a languid yet commanding vocal delivery that tells you there’s no reason this bash can’t keep rolling all weekend.

I’ve gotta say, there is something so uplifting about a band who, in 2015, can conjure up a truly appealing, genuinely fun time with just what’s coming out of their fuzz-laden stacks. Listen to this record’s standout tracks, “Saint” and “Z-bo,” and you’ll project back through spacetime to backyard hanging with the Dogtown boys circa ‘75, carving up empty pools and cavorting to The Heavy Eyes’ party-rock rumble.

Shepherd’s debut album has won them major praise within the Doom/Stoner Metal Scene.

They’ve also spent the best part of the year on these very pages. Held in high regard by the Doom Charts Contributors.

Why not as this album is one loud, noisy and action packed affair. From the opening riffs of Spite Pit your instantly drawn into Shepherd’s Grunge/Noise/Doom/Sludge based world.

Distorted down-tuned riffs and grungy vocals give Shepherd a great style of their own. Sure there are nods to The Melvins and Soundgarden on the album but Shepherd still prove they have their own sound.

The one thing that makes the album standout apart from the riffs is the guys ingenious use of humour littered throughout the album. Song titles such as Turdspeak and Black Cock Of Armageddon.

Stereolithic Riffalocalypse is a must have album for all you riff hounds. Check these guys out now. ~ Steve Howe (Outlaws Of The Sun)

These Aussie rockers have come up with a compelling and addictive slice of heavy sounds that just gets better the more you play it. NWOBHM rubs shoulders with Motorhead and Trouble giving them a template from which they launch blistering salvos of hook laden riffs and fist pumping tunes. This is rumbling Stoner/Doom with it’s own identity – not just another band ripping off some shit from the past and thinking that is enough. The album sounds like live jamming or is it the fact that a power trio has enough space in the music to let the tunes breathe with atmosphere and feeling? Whatever the case, you can feel the sweat of the players and the hum of amps overloading. Oh yeah, if that ain’t enough, the brain frying solos that overlay the lyrics of misty, murky Lovecraftian terrors are sublime. ~ Tony Maim (Black Insect Laughter, Stoner HiVe)

I’m an absolute sucker for low low riffs droning out with intent at a creeping pace. Add in some atmospheric other worldly vocals and the recipe is perfected. In April 2014 Monolord hit the scene with ‘Empress Rising’, deservedly garnering a good deal of attention and praise for that weighty slab of riffs. Riding this momentum, they unleashed ‘Vaenir’ this April and whilst Empress Rising was no slouch at all this just feels darker and heavier right across the board. ‘Cursing the One’ sets the mood, hypnotic and bludgeoning, instantly sinking in the talons with sickening twists in the riff. The pace seems to slow as the album drills its way into your mind, and by the time you get to ‘Vaenir’, the final and title track on the album, proceedings have slowed to a dense crawl. This is an album that gets heavier with each track, and one which has never been far from hand since its release. There’s a plethora of bands playing this kind of gear but only a handful who are doing it with that intangible something that makes it special and sets it apart from the pack. Monolord are well apart from the pack, and that’s evidenced in the praise they’ve received in the countless reviews of their live performances and seeing them riding high in many ‘albums of the year’ lists. Here’s to more low slow awesome from Monolord in 2016! ~ Clint (Hand of Doom Radio)

If we take 1991 as the starting point, we will be able to celebrate 25 years of Clutch next year. Twenty-five years of excellent rock from an ever evolving band. Clutch proves over and over again that there is no need to rest on one’s laurels. Earth Rocker from two years ago already proved that point and Psychic Warfare is here to prove it again! Filled with swampy stoner, intense blues influences and grimy guitar solos the record steps up to the plate. Where vocalist Neil Fallon fulminates and rouses Psychic Warfare to great heights and howls until all the bases are loaded. And then there are those enigmatic, stirring and cinematic moments. No atmospheric nonsense here; just a savage wasteland full of grit teeth and bloodshot eyes! And songs like Our Lady Of Electric Light and Son of Virginia make this album a true homerun… ~ Joop Konraad (Stoner HiVe)

Following on the breakthrough success of ‘Snakes For The Divine’ and ‘Death Is This Communion,’ ‘Luminiferous’ had a lot to live up to. Matt, Des, and Jeff’s latest turned out to be everything we’d hoped for from a High on Fire album: bludgeoning stoned riffs, galloping rhythms, deafening drumming, and the cries of our favorite metal madman. From raging firebrands like “The Black Plot,” “Carcosa,” and “Slave the Hive” to captivating story-telling epics like “The Cave,” “The Sunless Years,” and “The Falconist” from the crazed imagination of Pike, everything about High on Fire’s seventh record works. This one just gets better and better with every spin. ~ Billy Goate (editor-in-chief at Doomed & Stoned)

Kadavar’s 2nd album Abra Kadavar felt like two different albums masquerading as one. Some parts I liked and some parts I didn’t. It left me feeling cold towards the band. I heard they were releasing a new album called Berlin earlier this year and I was on the fence about it due to the last album. I needn’t have worried as Berlin is a return to form for the band as they’ve created a Hard Rock/Stoner Rock classic full of anthemic riffs, awesome vocals and fantastic songwriting. It’s an album drenched in 70s sounding doomy stadium riffs with a more modern stoner sound. Songs such as Lord Of The Sky, Filthy Illusion and The Old Man breathe new life into Kadavar’s sound. It has seen them travelling the globe as Stoner Rock ambassadors. Long may it continue as even BERLIN cannot stop these guys soaring into unknown pastures. Perhaps one of the best Hard Rock albums of the year. Check it out. ~ Steve Howe (Outlaws Of The Sun)

Three years after their “III” album, the Canadian gang of Dopethrone, hits our speakers with their latest work called “Hochelaga”. If you expect “innovations”, “experimentations” and cheesy review lines such “they are expanding the borders of the genre”, you would be quite disappointed. This is simple, well played, sludge doom from the gutter. During the forty minutes of the record, it is really hard to find a moment without a memorable heavy pentatonic riff, that won’t stuck in your head. That being said, the album flows perfectly fine. From the opening “Sludgekicker” till the last “Riff Dealer” a seriously fuzzed out trip takes place, and there’s no boring parts. This is a result not only of the good songs in there, but also a result of the great production which is letting all the band’s fumes be constantly present. The final verdict is obvious. If you are into “drugs, sex and every sort of filth” this album is for you. ~ Vasilis Durden (All the Heavy Lifting)

Obelisk, like the beast rising from the sea, is a multi-headed blasphemous monster of an album that demonstrates not only Goya’s propensity for crafting evil, unforgettable heavy tunes, but also their ability to manipulate the album’s overall tone with the moody instrumentals “The Star” and “Echo from Space.” Obelisk is easily the band’s most varied release to date, but it also stands as their darkest and grimiest. Goya have channeled a black, twisted psychology with their latest both musically and atmospherically. ~ Steve Miller (Vertical Chamber Apparatus)

There’s been plenty of PR hype behind the best-selling albums of 2015, so it’s refreshing to find one that has managed to come to recognition purely on its own steam. Portland underground heavies Disenchanter have never been a group to pander to trends. You won’t find frontwoman Sabine Stangenberg sexing it up to get on the “Hottest Women in Rock” spreads in online metal mags. They dress in jeans, t-shirts, and sneakers and let the music shine with authenticity, excellence, and soul. ‘Strange Creations’ is one of the most remarkable and enduring albums of 2015, touching upon themes of fantasy, horror, and sci-fi using a full-color doom-stoner palette, with plenty of surprises (such as the touching solo in the closer, ‘Snakes of the Earth’). There is everything to love about Disenchanter’s debut full-length, with meaty songs that will really stick to your bones and stay in your bloodstream for years to come. ~ Billy Goate (editor-in-chief at Doomed & Stoned)

Cosmically atmospheric and seismically heavy are really just two starting points to describe Spelljammer’s triumphant return, Ancient of Days. The Swedish heavy-hitters, now acting as a three-piece, are as sonorous as ever and the reduction in personnel and shifting of duties hasn’t tarnished the band’s mission or overall sound in the slightest. ~ Steve Miller (Vertical Chamber Apparatus)

Lori S., Joey Osbourne & Mark Lamb made us wait 10 years for a new album, a seemingly endless silence that suddenly shattered this year with “Middle Of Nowhere Center Of Everywhere”. It’s a trip that’s 1000 miles distant from what we call reality, a trip guided by Lori’s hypnotic and carnal voice interconnected with impressive melodies composed of liturgic riffs that expand themselves in the most obscure twists and turns of our mind, written and assembled like a stairway to unglimpsed space. “Middle Of Nowhere Center Of Everywhere” turned out to be a dazzling album through eight tracks that one after the other are more and more penetrating, lifting us completely off the ground. It’s true, we have been waiting forever … But it was really worth the wait! ~ Mari Knox Knox (Doommabbestia)

Like Acid King, Goatsnake also treated the world to a decade of the silent treatment before dropping what amounts to arguably the catchiest album on this list. What I like about ‘Black Age Blues’ is it’s unpretentious. All it is is hooky choruses, blues-inflected riffs and big dumb heavy metal drumming and I ain’t talking blast beats. “Elevated Man” is this doom pundit’s pick for song of the year without any doubt. Months of my life flew by with that chorus interrupting and penetrating my every stray thought. Gee, thanks Goatsnake, do you like, hear what I’m saying, this album totally mindraped me! Ah, but these heavy veterans of the doomed and stoned underground offer the listener no safe space. So as much as I heavily recommend this album to anybody with a working eardrum, ‘Black Age Blues’ must come with a trigger warning: once the play button is pressed, a thorough mindraping is inevitable. Then again, I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it…

Uncle Acid’s meteoric rise from the 20 copy myspace-onlly cd-r ‘Vol. 1’ to fourth album ‘The Night Creeper’ has been legendary, earning them the attention of Lee Dorrian and Black Sabbath among others along the way. It’s been a testament to the ideal of quality music over glossy image that’s a favorite narrative to men of quality everywhere. But until this year it had been a story of “look at what I did while no one was watching”. This year the pressure was on to deliver the goods while under the heat of the spotlight.

Well they most certainly did. ‘The Night Creeper’ is the perfect follow-up to 2013’s ‘Mind Control’. Not necessarily a companion piece, but a confident expression of a developed individualistic style. Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats don’t just write songs, they write albums and those albums are like the soundtrack to some forgotten, never-released mondo film. The Night Creeper is a devil of a slasher film in music and if you invite the devil in, you will fall victim to its deadly charms. ~ Lucas Klaukien (You May Be Dead & Dreaming)

So much has been already said about this band that’s barely a year old, just released their first music and have yet to set foot on stage together. There’s a lot of hype (which is a fucking awful word by the way) about the members of WTD. Dorrian, Bagshaw and Greening. (I’m not going to list past CV’s as I will assume you have heard heavy music before).

Expectations are high. And does the record live up to those expectations?

Yes. So. Much. Yes. I’ve already seen some people saying they’re not that keen on With The Dead, or that they don’t get the fuss about them. Some probably because it’s “cool” to knock what is perceived as the next big thing and some because they’re just not into it. And that’s fine. Because music is subjective and we all like what we like.

For me though. With The Dead very much deserve the praise and attention that has surrounded them. This is as heavy as anything else I’ve heard from this trio (or any other bands for a while for that matter) and there were clearly some demons exorcised here.

Between them they have released some truly landmark albums in the genre and I think they may have just gone and done it again. To borrow a phrase from the old guard……

Stupefying all of us. Or at least most of us. Elder came out swinging with an album at the very beginning of this year that perhaps even bested that awe-inspiring performance on Roadburn 2013. The Boston trio released Lore unto the world in February and all of us kept spinning that record until the needle ran through the groove. Their mixture of psychedelic rock, heavy stoner and epic metal will have you climbing to incredible heights in the dreams they evoke. There is no escaping and once you’re in, there is really no way out until those final mythical fading moments for the album is one gigantic tension arc. It will make you forget all about time and place and experience something that only the true wise men know. It won’t teach, but simply show…~ Joop Konraad (Stoner HiVe)

The fragrance of Doom’s posies spreads with the help of a haunting Wind and with the delicate touch of the Stoner’s Hand and covers like a gentle needlecraft the unearthly Heavy Psych garden of sorrow’s Folklore. Tis the Windhand that rises in all of its astonishing Heavy grace like Grief’s Infernal Flower serenely blooms amidst sludge marshlands of unworldly beauty. Dare to resist and you’ll lose your soul for this is absolutely beyond any doubt, irresistible. ~ Lyk (Phantasmagoria)